A Memory to Last a Lifetime
by mstessarae
Summary: A trip for my boyfriend to meet my family turns into much much more.


It had been an incredibly long day. Exhaustion was taking its toll on every muscle in my body and staying awake was all that I could manage for the next 20 or so minutes until the bus reached my stop. It was a dreary afternoon. The sky had been an ominous shade of grey all day, but now the last few rays of sunshine were beginning to peak through the dark clouds. I gazed through the large window to my left, past the water drops that streamed down the pane from the earlier rain. With my earbuds in, I turned my music up just loud enough to drown out the rest of the world. I live for little moments like these.

It seemed like no time had passed at all when the bus came to an abrupt stop. Glancing up I saw that I had arrived so I collected my belongings and made my way to the front of the bus. As I stepped off, my feet splashed in a puddle that had collected at the end of the driveway. I looked up at the now fully exposed sun, letting it warm my whole face, and took in a deep breath. Finally home.

It had been so long since I'd been back to Michigan. I'd forgotten how beautiful it was. The lake gleamed from behind the house as the cool summer breeze created sparkling waves that always caught the light in just the right way. Niall will love this, and I will love having him here…

Niall...I missed him so much. It'd only been a few days, but he was all I could think about. His sandy blonde hair, his beautiful blue eyes that always gave him away, his incredible smile…but what I missed most was just him. The light of my life. The way he makes fun of me in the most loving way possible, the way he laughs and pulls me close, the way his eyes shine when he tells me he loves me. Niall has been the best thing to happen to me in a long time, and I finally get to share him with my family.

Because Niall has been so busy with work, he won't be able to make the trip from the UK until tomorrow. I haven't seen my family in over a year, so having me to themselves tonight will make them happy.

As I stand in the puddle at the end of the drive, I hear someone call from the house. "Tess!" The sound quickly pulls me back into reality, and I look up to see my brother walking towards me, arms stretched out wide. I smile, dropping my luggage and running towards him. "Matt!" I yell as I collapse into his arms. He's grown so much since I've been gone. As I hug him my head lays just across his chest. He squeezes me tightly, like he hasn't seen me in ages. "It's so good to have to here." He says. I tilt my head to look up at him, and you can see the happiness in his face. "It's so good to be here, Matty." I say in return. "You go ahead inside, I'll grab your things." I don't argue with him as I don't think I could muster up the strength to drag everything up the driveway myself.

As I walk inside, the sunlight shines through the tall windows in the living room, and the space looks so different than I remember. I never expected being home to feel so new. It's comfortable, but it's not home anymore. My home is back in London, with Niall.

I walk into the kitchen, and I see my mom and dad. Mom is over the stove, cooking what looks to me to be spaghetti, my favorite. Dad is pouring them both a glass of wine. I stop before they can see me, and admire the scene for a moment. I've always loved watching my parents interact. No one could ever deny that they were meant to be, two peas in a pod. My dad is humming along to the dinner music that my mom most likely chose. With both glasses of wine in hand, he glides over to my mother, and wraps his arms around her shoulders. She giggles as he sways her back and forth to the music. She pretends to be more concerned with the pasta for a minute or so before allowing him to lead her to the middle of the kitchen where they playfully dance together. I watch as they lose themselves in the moment, their eyes never breaking connection as they laugh and spin around the kitchen. As the song comes to an end, he pulls her in close, and gracefully lowers her to the floor. I'm so caught up in their romance that I forget that I'm there with them. I begin a slow clap as I make my way into the kitchen, and they smile as they see me. Within seconds I'm fully encompassed by both of their arms. "Good to see you, kiddo." My dad says. "We've missed you" says mom. "I've missed you guys too," I say. We all just stand there for a moment before I ask, "Where are the girls?" Mom looks at dad and smiles before they both look back towards me. "They took a walk down the beach, honey," Mom smiles, "How about you go find them, dinner should be ready when you get back."

I walk out back and stand in the grass at the edge of the lawn for a few minutes, admiring the sun that is now starting to set, and wonder how Niall is doing. I'm sure by now he's sound asleep, so I don't bother calling. I look through a few of our recent pictures that are saved on my phone. It comforts me to see his smiling face, and I get even more anxious for his arrival. He should be flying in tomorrow afternoon. Matt and I will leave for the airport around noon to pick him up. Tomorrow can't come fast enough. I take another long look over the lake, and head down the beach to find my sisters, and their footprints in the sand show me that I'm headed in the right direction. The sand is cool against my tired feet. I don't get too far before I see two young blondes disappearing behind a small sand dune up ahead. "Maddy! Kate!" I shout. But my voice is muffled by the sound of the waves. I continue walking down the beach; the cool wind sends goose bumps across my smooth skin. As I get closer to the dune, I hear the girls. "Maddy! Kate! I'm home!" Still, I get no response. This time I laugh, I know they must have heard me. "Okay, you guys! What are you up to?" Not a word. I walk around the side of the dune shouting, "Maddy & Kaitlyn! What are you girls…" I stop dead in my tracks. I stand staring straight ahead, a smile taking over my face, as the two girls wrap themselves around my waist giggling at my reaction, "…doing?" I could hardly breathe. I managed to raise my hand to cover my open mouth but before I could even comprehend what was going on, I was embraced by a third person…Niall.

The girls let go, but I was too preoccupied to realize. "Niall, I can't believe…you weren't…but tomorrow…and Matt and I were…" I couldn't even form full sentences at this point. He held me tighter. "That's why that call it a surprise, love," He said in his rich Irish accent. I looked up into his sparkling eyes; his smile was so warm…so bright. I was so happy to see him I could have cried. "I can't believe this." I said. All I could do was wrap myself as tightly around him as possible. After a few moments, I was able to pull myself out of my shock enough to remember that I was home, and that I had come out here to find my sisters who had once again disappeared. "Where did the girls go?" I ask. "They'll be back, love, no worries," he assures me. "Why don't we take a little walk ourselves, catch up. It's been 3 whole days you know…I've missed you." he says. I could lose myself in his voice. His accent sucks me right in, and half the time I lose track of what he's saying so I just smile and nod as he takes my hand and leads me down the beach back towards the house.

"Well, how was your flight? Did you find the place okay?" I asked. I still couldn't believe that he had gotten here before me. "Oh yeah, yeah, it was a piece of cake." He replied. Niall was such a guy's guy. That was one of the things I loved most about him. I never had to worry about a thing when it came to him. He always seemed to be one step ahead of me. "How about you, love?" He asked. "It was fine." I said. I hated flying, especially overseas. He chuckled. He knew this about me. "You have no idea how wonderful it feels to have you hear," I said. He smiled and squeezed my hand a little tighter. "I missed ya too much." As we got closer to the house, Niall stopped me and turned to stand in front of me holding both of my hands. He looked so intently into my eyes that it worried me. "I'm actually here for a reason, Tess," He said. "There's something we need to talk about." My heart sank. He couldn't possibly have come all the way to my parent's house to end things between us. But something wasn't right. His face was now quite serious. "Okay," I said. "Let's talk."

We walked out to the edge of the water, so close that the tide kissed our feet as they sank into the wet sand. The water was cold, but I hardly noticed. Niall brought one hand to the side of my face and gently brushed my lips with his thumb. He was looking me directly in the eyes now. I brought my hand up and laid it over his. It was warm and rough against my skin. He brushed a strand of golden hair away from my face, and again took both of my hands into his. "I could look at that beautiful face of yours all day long," He said softly. "You have no idea what you do to me, love." A usually quite talkative Niall seemed to be at a loss for words. He took long pauses between speaking, which only added to my anxiousness. "Niall…" I said. "Talk to me. What's going on, babe?" I was genuinely worried at this point. It felt like he was about to tell me he had gone to the doctors on a routine basis only to find out that he had some sort of terminal illness or something. "Please, Ni, you're worrying me."

He chuckled softly again as he looked out over the lake. "Calm down, babe. I'm not meaning to scare you. Just listen…" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Once I regained composure, I opened them. He stood still in front of me, looking for a sign that I was ready. "Okay," I said. "I'm listening. Just listening." Out of the corner of my eye I saw that my family was now sitting on the back porch. Dinner must be ready.

"Tess," he spoke, "my love…from the moment that we met, I knew that there was something special about you…about us. We had the sort of connection that you'd see only in movies. I never thought that I would feel this way about anyone. I didn't know that this sort of thing really existed outside of the movies to be honest. You know how hard it is, with my job, to find someone who I can truly believe is genuine and true, and I thank God every day for bringing you to me. I know in my heart that what we have is unbreakable. I know that in the hardest times, I want you there. I know that in the best of times, I want you there. I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side." At this point I was literally at a loss for words. I wasn't worried anymore. I was mesmerized. I was holding his hands so tightly, and partially to distract myself from the tears that were building up behind my eyes. "I came here, before you, to meet your family and to talk to them one on one. I've wanted to do this for months now, but it's been important to me that we have your parent's blessings. Now that I do…Tess…I love you more than life itself. I want to spend every second of the rest of my life knowing you're my wife. I want to see your beautiful face before I sleep at night, and every morning when I wake up. I want us to have a family together. I want us to grow old together. I want you, and no one else." He took a long pause, and my heart nearly stopped as he dropped down on one knee. "Tessa Rae Reynolds…will you make me the happiest man in the world? Will you marry me?"

I couldn't hold back my tears any longer. They streamed down my cheeks as I leaped into his arms practically gasping for air between saying, "yes!" over and over. My family had walked out onto the beach to witness the proposal, and I briefly saw my dad snapping photos as Niall spun in circles while holding me tightly. He gently set me back on the sand and held my face in his hands as he kissed me repeatedly. So much emotion flooded the moment, and my family joined in the celebration hugging us both. Both my mom and dad had tears in their eyes. My brother and sisters had watched as well, and were smiling from ear to ear as I motioned them over to join us.

I couldn't keep my eyes off of Niall. I had been so overwhelmed by it all that, until now, I didn't even take a second to glance down at the gorgeous ring that now rested perfectly on my left hand. "Wow." I whispered. He lifted my hand in his as if to give us all a better look. But I looked right at him. "Wow." I repeated. He smiled and lifted me again. Spinning 'round and 'round.

"Dinner will be ready whenever you two decide to come in," my mother said smiling as she gathered up my siblings and walked with my father up to the house. Neither Niall nor I responded. We continued to admire the ring and each other until the moon was high.

"I can't believe this," I said as I laid against his chest. My family had brought blankets and champagne out onto the beach at some point after dark. "I can't believe you did this all without me!" I laughed and looked at him menacingly. He kissed my forehead and replied, "It's only the beginning, love. Only the beginning."


End file.
